Wolves no walkover - McCarthy

McCarthy witnessed his 10 men make Liverpool fight all the way for their 2-0 victory on Saturday - a result which left Wolves with three wins and two defeats from their last five Premier League games. Steering Wolves to five wins and four draws in their opening 19 games has given McCarthy some satisfaction, even if they are still too near the drop zone for comfort ahead of Monday's clash with Roberto Mancini's Manchester City. "I am happy with our performances so far," he said. "We are at the halfway stage and we have 19 points - I would have taken that at the beginning of the season. "And recently, in particular, we have done well. "It sends out the message to everybody that we are not walkovers in this division. "We have had some luck, picked up wins and the lads have stuck together. We needed to change a few things and we have done that. "But in the end it is wins that change situations and perceptions and we have to believe we can do the same against Manchester City." Wolves lost to second-half goals from Steven Gerrard and Yossi Benayoun at Anfield, but only after Stephen Ward's dismissal. Ward was subject of a bizarre piece of refereeing from Andre Marriner which initially saw his team-mate Christophe Berra mistakenly shown a yellow card for a foul on Lucas Leiva. The official then amended his error and Ward was dismissed for a second bookable offence. McCarthy was furious, suggesting it was not a foul and that fourth official Phil Dowd may have played a part in Marriner's change of heart to eventually get the right man for the offence. The Wolves boss added: "The referee had no choice then but to send off Stephen Ward. "Booking Berra was no danger for the referee, then he finds out it's the wrong man and has no choice. "I did not feel there was much contact at the time. Seeing it later just convinced me further. "I'm only bothered about whether someone whispered in the referee's ear what was going on because I am not convinced the fourth official really knew initially." Now the Wolves boss must put all that behind him as he prepares to face a Manchester City side fresh from their 2-0 defeat of Stoke in Mancini's first game in charge since succeeding the controversially-axed Mark Hughes. Ward will be suspended for tomorrow's home clash with City, while McCarthy hopes his players can recover quickly from the extra exersion required due to their numerical disadvantage at Anfield. He said: "We played well, I am proud of them. Liverpool did not make many chances. But at 10 men the game is finished. "There will be some tired legs now as we prepare to face Manchester City. "Ten men against Liverpool at Anfield means a lot more effort from everybody. "Matt Jarvis was running on empty and Kevin Foley was too - they all put more than a shift in. "I will have to look at them all to see who can play against City. "But they did a good job, and I wonder whether we can do that again so soon after the Liverpool game. "To recover from that, playing with 10 men, is very difficult. We just have to try to do our best now. "Manchester City played on Saturday, they will be tired too. But they have a slightly bigger squad than I have. I will assess them all before making any decisions."